Medical marijuana for RSD/chronic pain
 

Hey does anyone have any input or advice on the use of medical marijuana for unmanageable RSD/CRPS or other chronic pain complexes not helped by all else??
Does anyone know if its helpful or their experience?
I know in a few states including california, its legal to smoke pot if the patient's doctor feels its necessary and writes a special medical marijuana prescription.


*admin edit* :)

-Jamie

Hi Jamie I myself don't know forsure if medical marijuana helps for you condition but one of the people at my pain mngt clinic got a perscription for it and swears by it he has reginal pain syndrome. He can smoke it but also has spray with T H C in it. He was taking morphine and now does not need it hope I was of some help good luck let me know if you try it and how it works I would like to myself for chronic pain. Toni

Do a search on this site for medical marijuana. There's been a few recent threads on the subject pertaining to RSD.

Reply
 

Hello, I have CRPS in my left arm and have functionality of the hand since last June. I do live in Canada and have a medical Cannabis license for treatment of my CRPS. It does help with my Nausea substantially as well it helps with the constant tremors in my hand. I do use it for pain management but it is not sufficient except for short duration break through pain.
It may not work for everyone but it has definitely benefited myself.

Cheers
Colin

These are the drugs I have tried. Percocet, Ultram, Opanna, Dilaudid, Oxycodone, Savella, Morphine, Lyrica, Neurontin, Doxepin, Nortripyline (plus more that I can't remember). Not one or combination of them took my pain away at all. They did take my brain away, foggy, stuttering when trying to form a sentence let alone think of a simple word, could not function, made me more depressed plus the thoughts of what damage they were doing to my body. I researched medical marijuana and decided to give it a try. First I tried smoking then bought a vaporizer (takes toxins out, less harmful than smoking, doesn't make my bedroom smell ( 2-3 puffs before going to bed). Then I tried the butter, I made a batch of brownies. Takes about 20 min to kick in but who cares. On days when pain was so bad I would have a piece of toast with a smear of the butter. I've tried lots of other products (edibles). The one that has saved my life is called the Bhang bar. It is a chocolate bar that comes in different flavors. I break off a piece (1 inch) and about 20 min later I start to feel so much better. It totally takes away my stress that causes anexiety that makes me feel like Im gonna explode, then my heart starts racing, plus the depression. For me its lasts about 3-4 hours. Im a different person (almost normal except for the RSD pain) my pain is still there but its like "I don't care" and not in a "stoner" kind of way, more of a I am at peace with myself kind of way. I can do chores singing, tell jokes, make people laugh, I tell my husband it makes me feel fluffy. A sense of well being, calmness and peace goes thru my body. It helps me make it thru another day. I hated having to take prescription drugs every 4 hrs 3 times a day. With the chocolate I take it only when I need to. I am in control. With any substance it is trial and error. I have finally found the ONLY drug that helps me deal with this horrible life. Everything with me is, I want to be in control, I have to know what is going into my body and what it is doing to me, I hate taking pills period except my vitamins. 2 or 3 puffs right before going to bed helps me with the pain of my legs/feet touching the sheets or bed. It has helped me with the "electrical shocks" I used to have them so many times a day or worse at night. I only have maybe 3 or 4 per day. The marijuana helps calm me, makes me a happier person, takes my stress away which helps me live another day with this HORRIBLE beast. I still take 2 Norco in the morning (they give me energy, not make me sleepy or take the pain away) then at night I take 1 Trazodone. I've tried many sleeping aids but a pharmacist told me this was less scary to be on for long periods of time. God knows I have tried to NOT take a sleeping pill. I had to face it, I can't sleep without help the pain is like someone injected my legs/feet with HOT thick gel lined with shards of glass. I still freak out and cry everyday. But for me the medical marijuana has saved my life.
omg, I could have just said "Yes I eat a chocolate marijuana bar" lol
Good luck and try to bring happiness back into your life, it will help your pain.

My experience!
 

I have type 2 CRPS in my dominant arm, it sucks. My Nerve and Pain specialist suggested I try medicinal marijuana however was unable to provide me with information on dose and strains :/ and I find the "try it and see" approach very unscientific (to put it kindly). I'm also (prior to a month ago) VERY unfamiliar with "pot" in general, fortunately for you this meant that I take excellent notes with every experience to compare and contrast.

As you know any medical advice should be cleared with your medical professionals FIRST. I'm just here to tell you of my personal experiences, not to dispense advice.

As with another commenter above when I'm actually "stonned" it really doesn't do much for the pain itself so much as not making me care. Being that I dislike the feeling of that experience I've found a plan that works best for me. I find that taking a half dose of an edible 30 min before bed will not only not get me "high" (when awake) but I'll also avoid the "munchies". Now here's the fascinating part. The next morning I will not only NOT be high but I will also have pain relief comparable to that of a nerve block! Now unfortunately this only lasts a few hours, and when the pain comes back life sucks again. But as you know a few hours of pain relief with NO side effects is HUGE.

Now here's the part that chaps my hide, I've found a few articles about medical marijuana treating neuropathic pain... and I'm wondering maybe, just MAYBE it has a beneficial effect on the sympathetic nervous system for this condition. As in, instead of treating the symptoms could it be a real treatment?? As it stands the medications that I'm prescribed are anti-seizure and recently medicinal marijuana has made BIG waves in treating seizure disorders. Of course this is all speculation made by a patent who is NOT a medical professional and should be taken as such.

Good Luck!

Welcome to NeuroTalk:

Here is a current thread on our PN forum that explains the strains of MJ that are not euphoric, but do help with pain:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread203096.html

Sadly here in the UK we can't even try the darned stuff....and some days I'd really like to....

I don't want to smoke. I don't want to get high. But I do want to try the active part of the cannabis plant that has been proven to be beneficial for neuropathic disorders - the cannabinoids. It is perfectly possible to isolate these, and there is a particular strain of cannabis that is very high in the cannabinoids and low in THC (the bit that gets you high), but sadly the people who have grown this strain and supply it for those with the medical backing to get it, also grow vastly more quantities of the high-THC strains loved by pot-heads who give this amazing drug such a bad name and are the reason it is banned in so many countries. It is also the reason it is almost impossible to get research funding to explore its potential and actually come up with a proper drug to help folk like us with chronic neuropathic pain.

In the UK the only legal route is a drug called Sativex. It is so bound up in red tape and laws that it's almost impossible to get it prescribed, and it's mostly only prescribed for MS sufferers. Ironically, you are meant to go through the whole gamut of other, far more horrific, drugs like morphine before you can be officially classed as having 'tried everything else' and then be given it. Also ironically, if you should get the stuff, Sativex isn't even that good...:rolleyes: The pharma company that make it have isolated certain bits of cannabis, because if they just included cannabis in the med they wouldn't be able to patent it and make a truck-load of cash. Sadly, they haven't isolated much of the useful neuropathic part...

The whole thing makes me mad. Cannabis was a known useful medicinal drug long LONG before some young folk realised that it got them nicely stoned, and it became associated with the negative social effects of lots of young people smoking enough pot to just drop out of society and not give two hoots about anything except exploring different ways of smoking the stuff... It's time it was claimed back for medicine - and the high-THC strains should be the illegal thing, NOT the plant itself.

Making cannabis illegal, and vilifying it, have not controlled it's use as a recreational drug. If anything, that's just made it 'cool'. All it's done is remove a rare and useful medicinal drug from the reach of those who need it. Of course it's not a panacea for all ills, and might not be perfect, but properly researched and used it could be a powerful weapon for sufferers. Because let's be honest, there's very little that actually does help us out there right now.

We are light years away from making cannabis legal here, simply because where it has been legalised in the US and other countries, the general social effect is negative. Towns tend to end up with cannabis bars and cannabis shops, and groups of mainly young people sitting about smoking the stuff like mad, not working and generally not contributing anything positive to society. I know I'm generalising, and not everyone who smokes pot is like that, but unfortunately that is largely the reality.

Other prescription drugs are abused by drug-users, it should be perfectly possible to allow medical marijuana usage, and still have it illegal to steal it, sell it, or use it recreationally, as they have with some prescription drugs.

Oh, for some common sense somewhere in government and medicine...:rolleyes:

This post took me blinking ages to do, and has used up my sitting time nicely ;) Time to lie down again now and wish I had a drug that worked...

Bram.

Hello everybody
 

I know for fact there is a legal form of medical marijuana on pill called Marinol,I heard has some similar effects but is less stronger ,also is a control drug level 3 ,still prescription needed but legal In the USA,not sure if available in other countiries,I actually came to know one of the chemist professors who helped to create the compound form.
He added the marinol has similar effects but not 100% as the real cannabis,only bad side effect he found on the pill was weight gain,but did help with the insomnia,he is a rsd patient in remission!he still doesn't know how that happened !neither his drs.
Ask your physician about it,I'm sure your pain management dr know the effects the pros and cons.
Good luck to all from Jesika . :grouphug:
Ps,I did not tried ,I was a pharmacy tech,that's why I know for sure the drug exist,also,many patients that suffer of terminal cancer,leukemia or aids had it,I dispensed myself,that's why I came to know the use for the specific medication.

It only caused me to not care about the pain so much. It was a definite mood altering thing though. I could be seriously mad, and take a couple of puffs......and all the anger went away in a puff of smoke so to speak LOL!!

Hmmmmm,
I've thought about it at times. My wife tells me to get some so she can have some lol.
It comes down to do we want possible liver or kidney damage from med cocktails or brain and lung damage from marijuana...

Medical marijuana is very effective for RSD/chronic pain.

I am scared to death of liver and kidney damage! I'm on so many meds! :( I thought that if a person "vapes" the medical marijuana, it won't cause lung or brain damage, which I already have from who knows what. I've never used street drugs nor medical marijuana. I want to live! I'm already 60. Before all this constant, chronic, burning pain, I looked 35!!! Now I look 95! And that was only 3 years ago! Six months ago my labs showed a small amount of protein in my urine. I don't live in a legal MM state, but I don't want Dialysis! :(

It just makes you not care, eat too much and sleep better, If you have gasteoparesis it would probably help. They make CBD strains that have very little THC and has shown to help, didn't help me. They are selling a CBD vaping oil that's supposed to be legal and not show up on a UA. You can probably google it on line and it is also available in a transdermal patch but I was told you would test Positive. Personally it's not a solution for me. If its addiction to opiates vs MJ I would chose MJ. I would never smoke it. Vape or edible. I did not find it to help "burning nerve pain". In fact it increased it the next day as many meds do to me. You need to remember you need to be in a legal state and MOST pain management doctors and primary care doctors won't even work with your pain or health issue if you use it. That makes it a no go for me.

what state do you live in? is this a possibility everywhere?

Hey Tay, Im in Calif. They deliver right to my door. I go online to see their menu. There are many dispensaries (stores) here but I stay with the same one. The employees are very kind and helpful. They all know my story (because Im still freaking out ) I feel the need to tell everyone about this horrible disease.

The brain is a powerful organ. I live my life differently now. I have to, to survive. Find out things that make you happy. I breathe, stretch slowly while taking a slow deep breath, swimming in warm pools is huge for me, think of warm calming thoughts and laughing helps me soooo much.

2 or 3 days a week I take norco. Not every day. It gives me energy to do chores. I take trazadone at night to sleep. I take piece of chocolate everyday normally around 11:00 am to help me thru the day.

God put this plant on the earth for a reason. It is a sin that it is not available for everyone to try. Its like dangling a carrot in front of you. You can get some relief , but the government is sooo behind in its healing properties.

I hope and pray that they will find a cure for us. Remission is our only hope right now. I will never give up. Find your happy place it will help you.

Shelbie

I have my happy place, but I am afraid with the progression of this disease I won't be able to go there anymore. It is a camp for people with disabilities, where I was working long before I got this disease. I take care of and get to play with people of all ages with disabilities. However the job is very demanding, and I have to provide 24 hour care to roughly 4 campers. I love it to death, but I am on my feet non stop.

I am in Ohio, so the medical marijuana is not an option here, maybe one day :/

I smoke and I have CRPS and for me personally. It helps ALOT for me. But only depending on the strain I get. The strains with the highest cbd is what helps pain. The THC is what gets you high so higher cbd the less pain. Good luck.

Indica is one of the strains listed for pain. A few weeks ago when I was researching the value of some of my antique bottles I noticed a pristine one for sale that had raised lettering :"indica cannabis." Evidently (sigh) you could just buy it at your local druggist.

Jenna please tell us what strains helped you.

I know everyone has their own opinions and thats okay. I'm not trying to be rude or anything. But as a user for pain. I've done a lot of research. The way you can cause brain damage is from holding smoke in to long which causes oxygen deprecation. Holding smoke in for about 10 second is the limit

It should be legal soon!! I'm in Ohio as well!! But (doesn't work for everyone) but CDB oil is the best for it!!

Hey!! The strains that help me the most are grand daddy purp, and cotton candy kus . Both amazing for me!! But everyone is different

I have had success with it in the past when I was dealing with severe arthritic pain, I found that the kush strains, grand daddy purps and white widow worked well for that. As for CRPS pain, I did try white widow a few months ago. It seemed to have the opposite effect. The burning and stinging pain seemed to be increased, unless I made cookies, (by the way, oatmeal cookies do a wonderful job of masking the flavor of the marijuana), but it was costing too much to make a batch that would be effective. Because of that, I no longer use marijuana in any form.
:hug:

CDB oil
 

Can anyone give a reputable site where one can get CBD oil that is legal in every state and a brand that works for them if they even have "brands" of CBD oil?

Do not buy it online honestly its never good. Since its legal in most states now. If you go to a vape shop or a smoke shop they usually have them forvape pens

Thanks all for posting this content
 

Hi Guys I live in the backyard of the world - Australia where laws change so slowly. This is encouraging.
I am sorry I haven't been well enough to visit for sooooo very long but having had this horror of a life for 15 + years I am at wits end. Oh and apologies for typos.

Each year when we go into our long hot summer I go into a fear state of the heat and life itself - keeping food in the house is so very hard. I hibernate in the A/C house but the breeze from the unit puts me through hell and then there is the thermal shock which no one here can comprehend. I "walk" around in utter melt-down actually wet all over with pain sweat should I have to go out in the daytime and people are scared to be near me as I look so very ill.
For those who do not know as it's been so long since I posted, I have severe CRPS R knee / lower leg with the most horrid untreatable peripheral neuropathy with accompanying pyrexias etc.

You all know this story so to cut it short this MMJ is really something I want to try MMJ in one form or another but I cannot see a way around the legal speed humps.
We are both close to retirement age now and for real reasons I cannot go sown the illegal track as it could jeopardise our financial future and my marriage but you have given me the faith that some sanity that may come in time.

As with many here NONE of the usual drugs have helped including intrathecal pumps, localised stimulators and all the gambit of drugs available on Rx here and herbals etc.

The last time I went to my GP our authorities system (Govt pen pushers) cut back on my prescribed number of Endone to 5 mg per day so I have been totally miserable in pain beyond my belief and my GP is stuck in the company rut of trying to make me check for those issues that might onset with age - I think there is a bonus system for pathology in play here.

Frankly I don't care as my "good" leg is now grinding bone after having to support the CRPS affected leg for these last 15 or so years .....all I want is Quality of life I DONT CARE IF I DIE with the life I write of without some quality to speak of. My dad is still going, yet with sudden onset dementia at 91 yo. so it this not fill me with confidence. His brother is older. I am sadly from long-lived stock. As my CRPS resulted dodgy surgery from repair of a torn meniscus after a work accident I am not keen for more surgery. Cutters cut after all. I have little trust of our medical system.

Again thanks for the inspiration to pursue this MMJ issue as much as I can. It is the only light at the end of this long tunnel and I thank you all for your constructive and encouraging comments.
These are the most enlightened experience-based writings I have seen on the subject.
All the best to ALL of you good folk.

WOW, I'm so sorry you are suffering so much. Have you read about the newer treatments? The neridonate (sp) is showing hugely positive results in many patients. I don't know if that is something you can get down there. What about Ketamine?
My doc just put me on buprenorphine which, along with the lamictal and cymbalta, is keeping things more reasonable (though I hear you on the breeze from AC/fan ouch!). Most docs don't do buprenorphine, none of my previous docs even MENTIONED it.

Becca, I am on Neurontin (gabapentin) & buprenorphine (both patches and sublingual tablets for breakthrough pain/pain peaks).

They tried Fentanyl pain patches on me first, but I had horrible side-effects, and in Belgium there is only one other pain patch on the market, so... the choice was quite obvious. And these do well with me. I have been on them since 2004, still the same dosage and everything.

The buprenorpine patch isn't for breakthrough pain, it even says that on the box, but probably that isn't what you meant. In fact I felt like the best part of the patch, and now the once a day sublingual is that there aren't peaks/valleys in the pain coverage. My doc told me that the full pill is like 4x as strong as the 20 mcg patch. I decided to only do 1/2 pill at first based on that, because WOW. (I was weaning off the Methadone and onto a patch, so once off the methadone he put me up to the pill).
I think it is interesting, though, in the states no one mentions it at all.